Wanhua Chemical Establishes New Company to Deepen Its Presence in Another Trillion-Yuan Sector

[DT New Materials] has learned that recently, Yantai Wanhua Electric New Materials Co., Ltd. was established. The legal representative is He Yong, with a registered capital of 110 million RMB. The business scope includes new materials technology promotion services, synthetic materials manufacturing, and synthetic materials sales.

According to Qichacha, the company is jointly held by Wanhua Chemical, Beijing Huairou Laboratory Technology Achievement Transformation Co., Ltd., Yantai Zhongtao Investment Co., Ltd., and Orient Cable.

Data shows that Dongfang Cable.China's leading supplier of core marine and land cables.The top 10 most competitive companies in the global submarine cable industry, with a market share of 42.34% in 2024, and the absolute leader in domestic submarine cables. The company has established three major business segments: power engineering and equipment cables (green transmission facilities), submarine cables and high-voltage cables (power new energy), and marine equipment and engineering operations and maintenance (deep sea technology).Design and development capabilities for products including AC (optical-electric composite) submarine cables of 500kV and below, and DC (optical-electric composite) cables of ±535kV and below.In 2024, the company's revenue was 9.093 billion yuan, with a net profit of 1.008 billion yuan. According to the 2025 interim report, the company has orders in hand amounting to approximately 19.6 billion yuan, of which the submarine cable business accounts for 11 billion yuan.

In 2021, the first demonstration project using domestically-produced nylon 12 cable material, jointly developed by Orient Cable and Wanhua Chemical, was officially launched, which is the 110kV cable of Wanhua Chemical's Ningbo Chlor-alkali project. Meanwhile, the "Wanhua Chemical-Orient Cable Joint Innovation Laboratory" was established.

In April 2024, Wanhua Chemical once again joined hands with Dongfang Cable and the absolute leader in the domestic power transmission and transformation industry, TBEA, to establish a strategic partnership aimed at promoting high-voltage cable insulation materials.(For XLPE products)Innovation and development in the field to meetThe rapid development of new energy vehicles and offshore wind power leads to a fast-growing demand for the high-voltage cable industry.。

At that time,Wanhua Chemical has leveraged its upstream and downstream integration advantages to achieve integrated supply of base materials and modified materials through pipeline transportation. The pilot-scale production has yielded XLPE products with ultra-high voltage ratings. These products feature ultra-high cleanliness, excellent thermal stability, superior cross-linking capability, scorch resistance, and are suitable for long-term continuous extrusion.

In addition, in May 2022, Wanhua Chemical's subsidiary, Wanhua Chemical (Fujian) New Materials Co., Ltd., jointly invested approximately 1 billion yuan with Wanma Co., Ltd.'s subsidiary Wanma Polymer Group, a leader in the domestic cable insulation materials field, to construct the "Wanma-Wanhua Upstream and Downstream Integration Project." This project mainly aims to establish an environmental cable polymer material production capacity of 600,000 tons per year, with Wanhua Chemical primarily providing petrochemical raw materials such as LLDPE resin.

The wire and cable industry is the second largest supporting trillion-yuan industry in China's economy.According to the China Electrical Equipment Industry Association data, the performance of the wire and cable industry has been steadily growing from 2020 to 2023. In 2023, the market size of China's power cable industry was approximately 1301.76 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7%. Preliminary estimates suggest that the market size in 2024 will reach 1351.23 billion yuan.

Such a large market is bound to attract materials companies. In June this year, Dawn Holdings also entered the market by acquiring Anhui Bost New Material Co., Ltd.The company is focusing on the niche market of new cable materials, particularly in the electric vehicle and submarine cable sectors, and aims to create synergies with its existing businesses, such as the development of high-filled PP materials. A relevant officer from Dawn Polymer stated that they are optimistic about the future demand for cables, which is expected to be very large.

Currently, in the field of cable polymer materials, internationally representative companies include DuPont, Nordic Chemicals, Dow Chemical, and Avient. Domestically representative companies include Wanma Co., Ltd., Taihu Yuanda, Zhongchao New Materials, Shanghua New Materials, and Wanhua Chemical.

In terms of structure, power cables are composed of conductors, insulation layers, fillers, armor layers, outer protective layers, and other components, involving various materials. Taking Wanhua Chemical as an example, besides XLPE, there are polyurethane-based materials (TPU) such as Wanblend® WHT-HF6190EV/HF6180EV, used for new energy vehicle charging pile cables, consumer electronics cables, spiral cables, and optical cable sheaths; POE (polyolefin elastomer) is used for low-smoke halogen-free cable sheaths; Nylon 12 (PA12) is suitable for coating layers of submarine cables and fiber optic communication cables; LLDPE is used for ordinary wires and cables, low-voltage silane cross-linked cable materials, etc.; PVC cable materials are used for elevator cables, automotive wiring, ultra-high voltage cable sheaths.

The main materials for the insulating layer are cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and rubber. Due to its performance advantages, XLPE has replaced PVC as the preferred choice, especially for cables rated at 3kV and above. The cross-linked polyethylene insulated power cables and their accessories for 500 kV high voltage and ultra-high voltage cables have been designated as key products in strategic emerging industries by the country.

XLPE is made from cable-grade material in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) that is cross-linked through methods such as silane or radiation. Although companies like Qilu Petrochemical, Shanghai Petrochemical, Yangzi BASF, Lanzhou Petrochemical, and Zhejiang Petrochemical are producing it.LDPE cable special material.

The main trends in the power cable sector are ultra-high voltage, submarine cables, and intelligent systems. However, in China, key materials such as high-end flame retardant varieties (base materials), 220kV and above ultra-high voltage cross-linked polyethylene insulation materials, ultra-high voltage semiconductive shielding materials, and special thermoplastic elastomers (base materials), as well as LDPE cable specialty materials, have long relied on imports. Notably, more than 80% of the high-voltage and ultra-high-voltage LDPE cable specialty materials for 66kV and above are dependent on imports.

The core reason lies in the stringent quality requirements for LDPE cable materials used in high and ultra-high voltage cables. These include controlling impurity levels to achieve ultra-clean standards, requiring that the cross-linked XLPE contains no impurities with a particle size of 100μm or even 50μm and above, and ensuring the uniformity of the LDPE cable material during cross-linking. Additionally, it is essential to guarantee that the XLPE insulating material has excellent processing performance and uniform particle size, thus ensuring stable output during extrusion, uniform thickness of the extruded insulation layer, and no occurrence of eccentricity.

Like many industries, despite the fierce competition in the cable industry, upgrades and innovations are underway.Bring a wealth of new opportunities.